Venezuelan VP sanctioned by US owns luxury condos in Miami

The Venezuelan vice president who was just sanctioned by the U.S. government for his ties to drug trafficking and Muslim extremists owns three luxury condos in South Florida, according to a new report.

The U.S. added Tarek El Aissami to its sanctions list on Monday following an investigation that revealed his “significant role in international narcotics trafficking,” the Miami Herald reported. The government also froze his access to an estimated $3 billion fortune, including companies tied to El Aissami’s accused front man Samark Lopez.

Some of those companies own three condos at the Four Seasons Miami tower in Brickell, according to the Herald. They paid nearly $7 million for the units between 2012 and 2013.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro named El Aissami vice president in January, but the U.S. has been investigating him for months. Properties in the British Virgin Islands, Panama, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and Venezuela were also identified or blocked in the measure.

The Miami Herald cited El Aissami’s ties to radical Islamic organizations in the Middle East, including the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, and his direct involvement in drug-smuggling operations from Venezuela to the U.S. and Mexico. [Miami Herald]– Katherine Kallergis